A hush fell over the SoftBank Hawks’ Fukuoka’s Mizuho PayPay Dome as the game ended. As he’d done so many times this season, DeNA Baystars’ ace Katsuki Azuma had already extinguished any belief.
In what was essentially a must-win win for the BayStars, Azuma had another promising start in a season full of them, allowing just one run over seven innings while propelling DeNA to a 4-1 win. The win moved the series to 2-1 in favor of the Hawks with an ever-pivotal game four taking place Wednesday night and snapped SoftBank’s 14-game Japan Series winning streak.
Azuma was incredible all regular season, going 13-4 with a 2.16 ERA. October has been a similar story, and on Monday night, his season reached a new peak, turning in an ace-caliber performance when his team needed it most.
Underpinning the seven innings of one-run ball was just enough offense, and with how Azuma (four strikeouts) was pitching, that was enough.
There were other little ways the BayStars won Tuesday night, essentially keeping their season alive.
After early defensive issues nulled a first-inning lead, they hunkered down and played strong defense for the rest of the contest behind Azuma and the bullpen.
Masayuki Kuwahara added two hits and an RBI, helping spark a top-of-the-lineup that added four of the BayStars’ six hits.
But it was Azuma who stole the show on the night, navigating around ten hits to allow just one run. The BayStars also used just three pitchers, compared to six of the Hawks. Azuma is the first Japan Series winning pitcher to allow double-digit hits and record a win since Masumi Kuwata of the Yomiuri Giants in 1994. He is the third to do it while only allowing one run.
BayStars catcher Yasutaka Tobashira doubled in an eighth-inning run for added insurance.
Game 4 is set for Wednesday evening; Anthony Kay (6-9, 3.42 ERA) will take on Shuta Ishikawa (7-2, 2.56 ERA) of the Hawks.
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WBN NPB: https://worldbaseball.com/league/japan/
Photo Credit: Katsuki Azuma via Kyoto News
